jcurry

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Okay everyone, my goal is to setup my 125 by Sept. 1st. I've corrected a few mistakes from when it was setup a few years ago. But I'm still up in the air about whether or not to use a plenum under the new sandbed. Any thoughts?

Jeff

P.S. I've read Dr. Ron's stuff and Julian Sprungs'
 

marrone

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I wouldn't go with the plenum as if something go wrong you stuck and may have to break down the tank to get rid of the plenum. I would put in a refugium instead.

Check on Reef Central there is probably alot of options on wether people are still using plenum and the pro's and con's./

Michael
 

[JWS]wasabi

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never really was too thrilled about the idea of one.. from what i understand the real goal is to get anerobic (no oxygen needed to live) bacteria thriving..

I would think a dsb is a better low oxygen / high bacteria density enviorment.. instead of a low oxygen chunk of empty water.

the P.I.T.A of a plenum if something goes wrong down there... way too much of a headache IMO. but people do still have em... anyone know why?
 

Dave ESPI

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There is nothing wrong with plennumns.
I run a few myself. a 1/2 inch lift and 3.5 - 4 inches of aragonite and oolitic sand blend will be perfect. the problem with DSB, is cementation, and the trapping of a few very noxious substances.

if you have ever had to break down a DSB tank, you will notice a very strong odor from the sand.
Rarely do I have this with a Plennumn system. If you need to get water circulating, or clean UNDER the plennumn once every few years, you can make " Stand pipes" and cap them off in the back of the tank. This will allow you the room to snake a hose down under your plennum and work it around siphoning off the sediment and detritus under the plate without ever removing it.

HTH.
 

House of Laughter

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I say Plenum Jeff -

And if you do the plenum right, you shouldn't have to take anything out ever - JMHO

Inmy new tank, I made a plenum myself and covered it with 3" or course crushed aragonite. After that I put down another screen so that the aragonite doesn't get disturbed and so that if I get a digger (blue spotted jawfist etc) he wo't penetrate the aragonit because it has a prtective cover.

On top of the 3" of crushed aragonite, I put down 5 inches of southdown (2" of which was from my 18month old tank - lots of life, starfish and bacteria).

My tank has been up a month and no algea bloom and zero's across the board on all tests (except for calcium at 450 :) I also can see the bubbles from denitrification foming below the sandbed.

So, I say plenum and do it right.

Hope that helps

HoH
 

jcurry

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House,
My concern with the plenum is an accumilation of fine sediments in the plenum over time. I had a plenum under the DGB in my small koi pond which worked great foe about 2 years and then I started having algae problems. When I broke down the pond I noticed there was about a 1/2" of superfine sediment in the plenum. I thought this might be the cause of the algae problem. Have you noticed an accumulation of sediment in your plenums or any sudden algae problems after a couple of years with your plenums?

Jeff
 

[JWS]wasabi

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sounds interesting... that standpipe idea is good stuff. maybe I should take a stab at that. would you guys recomend installing one in the main tank or the refugium? as far as i can remember ive only seen them setup in the main tanks.. thoughts?

slowly setting up my 72 and lookin for opinions, tryin to be smart about it an stuff.
 

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